Ranked Play FAQ

Why do we use the league system?
How do leagues work?
What determines how many league points I gain from winning a match?
Why does everyone earn different amounts of League points?
What happens to my LP if I lose my promotion series?
How can I get a new league name?

What are the requirements to create a Ranked Team?
Why is my team not in a league?
How many people can be on my team?
How do invites work?
How many teams can I be in?
How do I make sure that my team's name doesn't get taken by someone else?
How can I create a ranked team?
How can I play with my ranked team?
How can I leave or disband my ranked team?
What happens to disbanded teams?

We decided to move to the league system for a few reasons. For started, having a single ladder with all ranked players doesn't provide a lot of incentive for advancement. When you're ranked 290,000 and have 289,999 opponents left to pass on the way up, that process can seem meaningless. Tiers and divisions also provide milestones and manageable goals you can strive to achieve at your skill level. We also want to move away from focusing on a single number as the core indicator of a player's skill (formerly ELO), and instead move toward something more compelling: competition on a small ladder with a relatable number of opponents.

HOW DO LEAGUES WORK?

In order to join a league, a player must complete their 10 placement matches. Once completed, a player will be placed into a league with up to 250 other players of the appropriate Tier ? Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Platinum. Diamond, Master, and Challenger places can only be reached through combat on the Summoner;s Rift!

In each division, numbered 1-5, there will be about 50 players to compete with. Once a player accumulates 100 league points, promotion series trigger. In order to move up a division (1-5), a player needs to win 2 out of 3 games in their promotion series. Moving up tiers works the same way, except 3 out of 5 games need to be won.

WHAT DETERMINES HOW MANY LEAGUE POINTS I GAIN FROM WINNING A MATCH?

There is only one factor that affects the amount of LP you get: the perceived difficulty of the match, which is based on the MMR difference between the two teams. Being a part of a duo, kill/death ratios, and other statistics does not affect your LP gain.

WHY DOES EVERYONE EARN DIFFERENT AMOUNTS OF LEAGUE POINTS?

If your MMR is significantly lower than where the system believes you should be for the division you are in, then your LP gains will be reduced and LP loss will be increased. Alternatively, if your MMR is significantly higher compared to the average your current tier or division, you will gain more LP and lose less. You may even skip promotion series or advance multiple tiers if your MMR significantly outweighs your league.

WHAT HAPPENS TO MY LP IF I LOSE MY PROMOTION SERIES?

The amount of LP that is deducted from 100 is equal to the net loss of LP from your promotional games. For example, if you win one out of 3 games, you will receive 1 LP gain and 2 LP losses. The net difference is what will be subtracted from 100.

HOW CAN I GET A NEW LEAGUE NAME?

League names are purely cosmetic and are essentially formed by randomly pairing a champion's name with an appropriately epic plural noun. Some examples include Katarina's Assassins or Vi's Brawlers. We'd like to assure you that no champion, living or undead, receives preferential treatment (except the Great and Brutal Warlord Teemo) on the basis of race, gender, species, political allegiance or extra-dimensional origins. Riot Games is an equal opportunity league-namer. Unfortunately, we can't let you pick your league name, so if you're not satisfied, consider it an extra incentive to fight your way to the top and get promoted. Once you've earned a new tier, you'll be placed into a new league with a new name.

Matchmaking is not affected by your league. You'll compete against opponents of various skill levels, which are represented by a hidden Matchmaking Rating (MMR). Your league placement indicates your progress against a set of opponents who are similar to you in skill level, but it doesn't restrict competition solely to players in your league.

HOW WILL MY FRIENDS BE PLACED?

The league system will always try to place you in a league with players on your friends list as long as they're in the same skill tier (e.g. Silver). If you want to check your ranking against a friend in another league, you can compare your tier, division, and LP by using the Search feature in your Summoner Profile to get a general idea of who is closer to the top.

HOW DOES MY MMR INTERACT WITH THE LEAGUE SYSTEM?

After your placement matches are over, your final MMR is used to determine your placement in a specific tier and division. After placement, your MMR rises or falls depending on whether you win or lose games. This value is hidden and is used to find opponents for each match.

You will be matched against opponents based on your average MMR. In champion select, if either player is chosen as first pick, the team captain will be assigned first pick and the other member of the duo will get whatever the position the captain originally received at the start of the match.

WHAT IS THE PENALTY FOR QUEUE DODGING IN RANKED?

Detailed descriptions of queue dodging penalties are available here. This link also includes information about missing Ready Checks.

WHAT ARE THE RANKED DUO QUEUE RESTRICTIONS?

We have introduced a new restriction for ranked duo queues as of patch 4.11. Players can only duo queue with teammates ranked within one full tier above or below them. For example, a Silver 3 player may duo with players ranked anywhere from Bronze 5 to Gold 1.

If you were ranked in solo queue during the previous season, that rank will be used to determine your duo eligibility during your placement matches.

If you were unranked (or never played ranked games before) during the previous season, you will be allowed to duo with Gold, Silver, and Bronze players while your skill level is being assessed. After you have been placed, the duo queue restriction will apply based on the tier you have earned in your placement matches.

Once you reach 100 LP, promotion series trigger. You will need to win 2 out of 3 games to advance a division and win 3 out of 5 games to advance a tier.

HOW DOES SHIELDING WORK?

Temporary shields will stop players from dropping into a lower tier immediately after promotion. You will be shielded from demotion for the next 3 games after you advance a division. If you advance a tier, you will be shielded for 10 games (3 games for Master Tier). Furthermore, if you are in danger of being demoted to a lower tier, you will receive a warning in your Summoner Profile.

DO PROMOTION SERIES EXPIRE?

Promotion series can expire for all tiers except Silver and Gold. For Platinum promotions, you have 28 days to complete your promotion games before your series is cancelled and LP decay sets in. For Diamond and Master promotions, you have 5 days to complete the series before your series is cancelled.

If you are in Platinum or Diamond, after 28 days of inactivity in a particular ranked queue, a couple things will happen. First, you'll be hidden from the standings in your league. You will also lose LP depending on your current tier. Every seven days thereafter, you'll lose LP until you play a match in that queue.

In the Master and Challenger tier, players in Solo queue will decay after becoming inactive for 10 days; this is to ensure only the top active players are being showcased. In Ranked Team play, decay will occur after 28 days.

The number of LP lost following each period of decay is shown below:

Master & Challenger: 250

Diamond: 50

Platinum: 35

If you fall at or below zero LP as a result of decay, you'll be placed into the next lowest division. If you're already in division V of your tier, you'll fall into the next tier down (for example, Platinum V to Gold I.). Tl;dr: don't take a break from ranked for too long.

Decay does not occur for players in Bronze, Silver, and Gold.

HOW IS MY LP DETERMINED AFTER DEMOTION?

If you are demoted out of a division or tier your LP will be set 25 or 75 LP, depending on your MMR at the time of demotion.

If you are being demoted from Master tier to Diamond I, the LP you are set with may vary even more.

HOW DO DEMOTIONS WORK?

Demotions are based on your LP and are influenced by your MMR. If your MMR is significantly lower than the average for the current tier or division, every time you lose a game at 0 LP, you run the risk of demotion. Shielding prevents demotions as described above, but it does not last forever!

Master tier has no divisions. There's just a single league with all the Master tier competitors.

There is no limit to how many players can be in Master tier.

Master tier competitors will be flagged as inactive and lose LP after only ten days. They will continue to decay every day thereafter.

There's no upper limit on LP. Players and teams that continue winning will keep earning LP and increase their lead in the standings.

When a player or team enters Master Tier, they cannot be removed from Master Tier for three games.

When a player is demoted from Master tier to Diamond:

If your MMR is greater than or equal to the Master tier MMR threshold, your LP will be set to 75.

If your MMR is less than the Diamond I MMR threshold, your LP will be set to 0.

If neither of the above apply, your LP will be set to 50.

Players who quickly drop back into Diamond I after being promoted to Master Tier will retain a minimum of 50 LP.

HOW IS THE CHALLENGER TIER DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHER TIERS?

Only the most elite players and teams in a region will make it into the Challenger tier. Membership in this tier is more strenuously regulated and competition works a little differently:

Placement into Challenger is based on a rotating twenty-four hour schedule. Each time the clock hits zero, it will recalculate the top 200 players or 50 teams; any Masters in the top 200 players or 50 teams will be promoted to Challenger, and any Challenger player or teams who have fallen below the top 200 or top 50 will be returned to the Master tier.

Challenger has no divisions. There's just a single league with all the Challenger tier competitors.

Challenger tier competitors will be flagged as inactive after only ten days. They will continue to decay every day thereafter.

There's no upper limit on LP. Players and teams that continue winning will keep earning LP and increase their lead in the standings.

Challenger Tier solo queue only has 200 spots (we increased it from 50 when Season 2014 started). Team queues only have 50 spots.

You will need to be level 30 before you can make a Ranked team. You will also need to own 16 champions on your account before you can play Ranked games. Free week champions cannot be played in ranked matches unless you own them, so they don?t count toward the total.

Please note: Even though you can create a Ranked team at level 30, you won't to be able to play Ranked games until you meet the champion inventory requirement!

WHY IS MY TEAM NOT IN A LEAGUE?

You need to play at least 5 games with your team in a queue for it to become officially ranked and placed in a league. You can become ranked in both 3v3 and 5v5 queues. If you are not sure how many games your team has played in a given queue, you can check this in your teams profile page within the client. If you played your 5 games during the pre-season and have not played since then, your team will have to play one more game to be seeded into a league for the 2014 Season. All relevant medals and statistics will appear after you play this first game as well.

HOW MANY PEOPLE CAN BE ON MY TEAM?

You can have a total of 9 players (including captain) in a ranked team.

HOW DO INVITES WORK?

When you first create a team this is known as the "open" invite period. At this time you can invite up to 8 other players to join your team. Because teams are limited to 9 people, there are a limited amount of invites that can be out at a given time. The number of invites that can be out depends on the amount of spaces you have left on your team. You can only have enough invites out to fill the empty slots on your team.

For example: Monster's Team currently only has the captain in it. That means that there can be 8 total invites out. If someone accepts the invite, that counts as a slot filled and there would be 7 invites available.

Once your team has played 5 games together and is ranked, you will only be able to make up to 3 additions to the team per week, and only if there is a roster slot available. The invitations that you send out at this point are refundable, which means you can revoke an invitation and use that same invitation to invite another player instead. However, if a player accepts the invitation, that invitation is considered used. Removing that player from the team will not give you back the invitation. The one week cooldown on adding another player is triggered when a player accepts a refundable invitation.

HOW MANY TEAMS CAN I BE IN?

Each player can be part of 5 teams total.

Please note: You can only create three ranked teams per week.

HOW DO I MAKE SURE THAT MY TEAM'S NAME DOESN'T GET TAKEN BY SOMEONE ELSE?

Play a game! We have a system in place that automatically disbands inactive ranked teams to clear up the name for other players to use. Here is a rundown of that system:

If the team is provisional, it will be marked as inactive after 30 days without playing a game.

When there are 7 days left until inactivity sets in, all players on the team will receive a warning.

Once a team is actually marked inactive, all players on the team are notified and it becomes eligible for another player to take.

Playing for a game at any point with that team will revert the inactivity flag and reset the timer back to 7 days (if it's currently less than that), so team names/tags can't be taken while you are playing a game, and that team can always get more time by playing a game.

If a team name or tag is actually taken due to being inactive, all players will be notified that the team no longer exists.

Teams that have been ranked by playing five or more games in a single ranked queue can never be disbanded by this system.

HOW CAN I CREATE A RANKED TEAM?

Click on your Summoner profile.

Click the "Create a Ranked Team"button.

A prompt will appear allowing you to enter a team name and tag. Names can be between 3 and 24 characters in length and tags can be between 3 and 6 characters in length. You can also check if a given name/tag is available by clicking the Check Name or Check Tag button.

Invite Summoners to join your team! Click on the "Manage" tab to arrange your team. Under the "Invite" section, you can select which friends you want to invite by clicking the arrow button next to their name. You can also use the "Filter Buddy List" option to easily find a specific friend on your list. When your friends next log into PVP.net, they will receive an invite.

Once you've assembled a team, it?s time to play! Although the team captain is in charge of managing the roster, they don?t have to be present in every game. Team members can play together whenever they want!

HOW CAN I PLAY WITH MY RANKED TEAM?

Click on the "Play" button.

Select a game map.Your team can either play a 5v5 match on Summoner's Rift or a 3v3 match on Twisted Treeline. Make sure that there are enough team members present to join the queue for the game type you are interested in playing.

Select the "Ranked Team" game type. Click on "Invite your ranked team" to be taken to the screen where you'll be able to choose which team and members you want to play with.

Select a team from the drop-down menu to invite team members. Once you select a team, you will only be able to add members from the roster to the match. Members that are currently online will appear in the "Available Players" box below. Click the "+" button to add them to the invite list. When you have invited all the members that you want to play with, click on "Invite Players" at the bottom of the box to start a group lobby.

Once enough members have accepted the game invite, click on "Start game" to enter queue!

HOW CAN I LEAVE OR DISBAND MY RANKED TEAM?

If you no longer want to be part of a specific team, you can leave it at any time. The "Leave Team" button can be found on your teams profile page in your summoner profile.

For captains: You will need to remove all players from the team before you can leave yourself. You can do this by going into the "Manage" tab and clicking the "X" next to each summoner name on the roster.

After all members of your team are removed, you can then leave the team yourself in the "Profile" tab. You will receive a "Disband Team" popup before you disband your team completely.

WHAT HAPPENS TO DISBANDED TEAMS?

If the team has played zero games: The team is eligible for deletion immediately upon being disbanded, meaning that anyone can now use that name and tag.

If the team has played at least one game but is still provisional: The team is eligible for deletion after 7 days. After that period, anyone can use the name and tag.

If the team was ranked: The team will never be fully deleted.No one can ever use the name or tag.

Please note: Ranked teams that have been disbanded will never be deleted through an automatic system. However, we will mass delete disbanded teams that have been disbanded for more than 90 days.

WILL I HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO PRO IF I REACH THE TOP OF THE RANKED 3V3 OR SOLO/DUO CHALLENGER TIER?

Although there are no League of Legends Champion Series events for 3v3 or solo/duo competitors, reaching the Challenger tier in these rankings will help you find other top-notch summoners to play with. If you’re interested in making a run at the Championship Series, try messaging some fellow Challenger tier competitors who aren’t attached to a current 5v5 ranked team. You’ll probably have plenty of potential comrades to help you pursue your dream.

WHAT ARE EMBLEMS AND HOW CAN I GET ONE?

Emblems call out certain players and teams in the League standings. They are purely cosmetic and you’ll find your emblems displayed by your summoner name in your league standings. There are currently three you can earn:

Recruit: You joined this League within the last 7 days
Veteran: You’ve played over 100 games within this League
Hot Streak: You’ve won three or more games in a row in this queue

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